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Magnotta jury fails to come to a verdict after 5 days

MONTREAL – Jurors deciding the fate of Luka Rocco Magnotta ended Day 5 of their deliberations on Saturday without reaching a verdict.

They will return on Sunday.

Magnotta, 32, is charged with first-degree murder and four other offences in the slaying and dismemberment of Chinese engineering student Jun Lin in May 2012.

The eight women and four men started their work on Tuesday and have written just two notes since then — once to ask a legal question and once to seek technical help.

Magnotta has pleaded not guilty by way of mental disorder and is trying to be found not criminally responsible.

His lawyer says he is schizophrenic and couldn’t tell right from wrong at the time of the slaying, while the Crown says Lin’s slaying was planned and deliberate.

The jurors sent a legal question Wednesday to Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer asking whether a personality disorder is a disease of the mind from a legal standpoint, something he confirmed.

On Friday afternoon, they sent a note to the judge indicating they weren’t able to view certain videos on the court-issued computer in the room where they’re doing their work.

Lin’s father was at the courthouse Saturday awaiting the verdict.

On the murder charge, the jury has four options: find Magnotta guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter, or find him not criminally responsible because of mental disorder.

The judge told the jurors Monday that if they find the accused not criminally responsible, that verdict must be the same for all five charges.

Besides the murder charge, Magnotta is charged with criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; mailing obscene and indecent material; committing an indignity to a body; and publishing obscene materials.

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